New Delhi, Feb 14: Even as the agitation in Jawaharlal Nehru University over the eulogizing of Afzal Guru took on an increasingly political colour on Saturday, the university's own high-level inquiry decided that eight students, including two top members of the students' union — its president Kanhaiya Kumar and general secretary Rama Naga — had prima facie engaged in "objectionable sloganeering" on the campus on February 9.
The decision is likely to harden the stand of JNUSU, which has called for a strike on Monday which will continue "till Kumar is released unconditionally".
"The high-level inquiry conducted by a three-member committee submitted its interim report on Friday evening and recommended debarring eight student from academic activities," announced Bupinder Zutshi, registrar of the university. "The report is based on prima facie evidence based on JNU's own video footage. The interim report recommended the measures because of objectionable sloganeering and indiscipline."
Beside Kumar and Naga, the others implicated are Sayed Umar Khalid, one of the organizers of the controversial event, Anirban Bhattacharya, Ashutosh Kumar, Ananth Prakash Narayan, Aishwarya Adhikari and Shweta Raj. Though debarred from academic activities, they have not been asked to vacate their hostel to enable them to participate in the inquiry.
Refuting the teachers and students who are demanding that the police should leave the campus, Zutshi claimed that there was no police presence on the university premises. He said the cops had only gone to one hostel, Brahmaputra, to pick up Kumar after duly informing the institution's officials.
"The police contacted us and said it was necessary to interrogate some students as they were being charged with sedition," said Zutshi. "They asked for our help in identifying Kanhaiya Kumar and also asked us about the whereabouts of 20 others. We asked the police to act as per law. We submitted to them on Thursday itself the video footage we had and whatever other details we possessed."
The registrar added that the vice-chancellor had met the deans and chairpersons of various centres on Friday and apprised them of the situation on the ground.
Earlier in the day, K Kasturirangan, chancellor of the university, visited the campus and met officials, teachers and students. He held meetings with representatives of the agitating teachers' association JNUTA, the staff association as well as teachers who did not subscribe to the views of JNUTA. Saurabh Sharma, joint secretary of JNUSU, the only ABVP executive of the students' union, also met the chancellor.
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